Parallels
by dstrawberrygirl
Summary: With the galaxy under the threat of imminent Reaper invasion, it's up to one woman... man... woman... woman... Commander Shepard to save the day! A speculative alternate perspective from the Firewalker DLC for ME2.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note: this story comes from the inspiration of the Mass Effect universe, as created by the awesome writing team at BioWare, to whom I give my thanks!. It's their universe, and their dialog options that inspired me to create different versions of Commander Shepard in my head. This is a story about four different Commander Shepard characters._

* * *

**Emony**

Emony Shepard was feeling sick to her stomach, her normally pale skin had turned translucent, and she found herself grateful to finally be breathing in some cold fresh air. The M44 Hammerhead would be undoing. She had an unblemished reputation as the hardy spacer kid who could pilot any vehicle like she was born in the driving seat. This mission had been a real chore, despite picking up a fair few minerals and having some fun blowing up some turrets, the bouncing, crashing, skipping of this vehicle - apparently necessary to compensate for its complete lack of armor - was the final straw. Emony didn't think it was possible for a Turian to look green, but even Garrus was looking relieved to be outside now that the forcefield around the facility was finally down. With every forcefield generator they had disabled, three or four defense turrets had sprung up, programmed to defend the facility at all costs. The rockets had missed them by inches as Emony had swooped left and right to avoid them.

It was hard to read Tali's expression, but she was unusually quiet. Emony did ponder more than once what a Quarian would do in the event of vomit or even tears inside those environment suits. She was grateful for the flexibility of her red custom N7 armor, though she found herself wishing it wasn't quite so uncomfortable around her neck and chest at that moment. With any luck, this would be the last trip in the Hammerhead for a while.

As they walked into the tunnel, a low hum and vibration seemed to resonate around them. "Another generator?" she asked, looking at Tali, who was already looking at her Omnitool. "No, this seems to be coming from a cavern below us. I don't think I've seen or heard anything like this before, I mean, as far as generators and engines are concerned. The resonant frequencies are not matching any known patterns." Garrus looked at Shepard with a thoughtful expression "It feels... I don't know - strangely familiar?" Emony pulled her pistol "Stay sharp, we'll find out soon enough" as she lead them deeper inside the cavern.

As they made their way deeper into the tunnels, the air chilled noticeably, but it remained comfortable enough. "What I don't get is why you didn't let us bring our old Mako from the Alchera crash site on board" smirked Garrus. "That old thing saved us from many a Thresher Maw - the cannon alone could have taken out those Geth in a couple of shots!" Shepard paused and turned to face him "After two years and a crash landing on a frozen wasteland, you honestly think it would have ever worked?" Emony tried to sound confident in her evaluation, but after two hours in the Hammerhead...

"Shepard!"

Tali beckoned them over to a few Blue Suns mercs - or what was left of them. "Some useful data on these pads" as she handed them over. Shepard played back the logs:

_Dr Oloy must have been indoctrinated by the Reapers_

An all-too-familiar story. Indoctrination: the betrayal of those closest to you as they start hearing the voices in their heads.

_I found him sending our data to a Geth shi_p

Shepard considered that for a moment - everyone else had assumed that Sovereign was a Geth ship, but her team had discovered it was actually a living Reaper. People had made that mistake before; were they here already? No, they couldn't be, there would be more evidence... must be an actual Geth ship in this case. Wish I'd had the Mako this time. And Kaidan. Shepard smiled briefly, remembering the first time she'd seen a Geth colossus floating in mid-air thanks to his biotics, as Garrus blasted it with an overload and a very precisely placed sniper shot. Their technique improved over the months, and they even started notching marks on the hull for each hit.

He was right, the Mako had a lot of things going for it.

_I've silenced O'Loy... forever._

She'd not been expecting to find anyone alive in this hole - the presence of so many dead mercs had made that clear. The hum was getting louder, if this was a device that was indoctrinating these scientists then they would need to be quick.

"I found another pad"

Garrus handed it over, a grim expression on his face.

_They're still in my head, stealing my thoughts._

Definitely indoctrination - which made her feel even more uneasy - was this relic actually Prothean, or was this a Reaper device that everyone had assumed to be Prothean? The hum was very loud now, almost pulsating with power. Looking over the obvious pathway, the source of the hum must be at the end of it.

Shepard disabled a security console, stone pillars shifted and moved, revealing a pulsating sphere. "Prothean!" exclaimed Garrus "and there I was worried this was a Reaper device!" Shepard smiled - she recognized it too. It was almost identical in design to a sphere that they'd encountered a few years ago after an epic Mako trip through some insanely rocky hills on Eletania.

_We'd only gone over there because Garrus and Kaidan had both decided that getting over the impossibly steep terrain was beyond the capabilities of the Mako, and they'd repeatedly pointed this out to me as their Commander. But I wouldn't listen, I knew if I just continued zig-zagging up the hillside, gently rocking that plucky little vehicle I would eventually succeed, and prove them wrong. And wrong they were, as we made it safely to our destination. Turned out, the anomaly we had detected from orbit was actually a Prothean sphere._

Once out of the Mako, there hadn't been much time - the toxic atmosphere made sure of that. As she approached the sphere, Shepard had noticed the small keyhole-shape that matched the size and shape of the small "trinket" that the consort Sha'ira had given her. Even though he'd had a helmet covering his face, Emony had known Kaidan must have been rolling his eyes - helping the consort had been a strange series of events. Thankfully, the trinket was so small she'd tucked it into a pocket of her armor and hadn't removed it since. As she inserted the trinket into the sphere, Shepard's mind had filled with images of ancient human civilization - a Prothean data recorder! But it had been much smaller than this one. Last time, she'd been briefly unconscious after touching the sphere, the only lingering side effect was a dent in her helmet from her head hitting the ground. That plus some confirmation that the Protheans had studied primitive human civilization.

As the hum throbbed in the underground chamber, Shepard started to walk towards the sphere. "Shepard - last time you did that you passed out - and this thing is at least three times the size" Garrus warned. Tali was also concerned "Shepard, I'm reading a LOT of activity - EM spikes across the board" She sounded awestruck. "Whatever this thing is, it's beyond anything I've studied, but it's definitely Prothean".

Emony took another step forward - what the heck, she'd encountered so many . "This time, Garrus, you'd better catch me - I only just got this new helmet" she smiled at the Turian - she was glad to have her team with her for moments like this. "I'm with you, Shepard." with a small twitch of the mandible. Just like old times.

She reached out and touched the sphere. She saw a ripple of green energy the second her finger touched the surface. Everything went black.

* * *

**Alan**

"Commander, are you completely out of your mind?" Miranda folded her arms and took a step back. "how do you know this sphere isn't the same device that indoctrinated these scientists? You're not seriously going to touch it are you?" The constant hum from the device was starting to get to all of them. Alan Shepard stepped forward, "Of course I'm serious - you know how many of these artifacts I've been in contact with, we need to extract every piece of Prothean information we can get our hands on." He sighed. Even after all this time, Miranda still insisted on providing a constant list of obvious questions. "You know more about me than I'd like anyone to know. Of course I'm going to touch it." Alan took a step forward and paused for a moment. "I'd definitely touch it if I were you" Kasumi added with a smirk. That brought a small smile.

Miranda had insisted on coming along - Alan suspected she was feeling more than a little lost, having semi-resigned her position at Cerberus less than two weeks ago. Not that you could truly resign from an organization such as Cerberus, but all credit to her for giving the Illusive Man a piece of her mind. Alan felt it would be good to keep the crew with him after he mission through the Omega-4 relay, making as much of their talents as possible before they inevitably started to move on, now that the Cerberus funds had stopped. Miranda had taken it hard, though she would never admit as much. Such a strong, independent woman, and so damn annoying at the same time. If she could just accept who she was and move on, instead on dwelling on her genetic perfection and the assets gifted to her.

Kasumi couldn't have been more different. She'd become who she was by not being seen, her confidence in her own abilities well deserved, gained over many years of skillful application of her intellect and her unique artistic style and personality. Who would know who was beneath that hood, and that mystery couldn't have been a more stark contrast to the impossibly tight outfits that Miranda insisted on wearing,

They walked a bit closer to the sphere, "Kasumi, what does your 'tool tell you about this thing?" he inquired. She paused and flicked over the data - she was extremely talented with electronics, thankfully. Tali was getting over a fever, and Alan wanted her to recover quickly. "Nothing and everything - I mean, it's full of data, that much I can tell, but it's full of so much data I can't see any one specific piece that stands out, other than the general fact that the main frequencies are definitely Prothean. Although, " and she paused briefly before continuing "I ... thought I just saw something that looked like neural activity but I can't be certain." Alan looked at her "like a memory, or is there something alive...?" Kasumi kept flicking through the settings on her omnitool "I'm not sure, it disappeared almost as soon as I saw it, but it reminded me of some of the patterns I see in the greybox." "Any indication of anything Reaper related?" "Not that I can tell, Shep."

Shepard took a deep breath and turned to face Miranda. "you're right to be cautious, but this is what I do, it's what I have always done. Just trust me, I'm not crazy. When the Reapers come, we will have to be ready, and data spheres like this could give us the information we need to provide a defense." Miranda sighed and raised her hand to her communicator, "EDI, make sure Dr Chakwas is prepped - we have encountered a Prothean sphere of some sort, and Commander Shepard is going to investigate it." Of course he was, she understood, but it was her job to... well, not really to protect, but she'd lead the team that brought him back, she would always feel responsible in some way. Same Shepard that he was before, same short dark hair, same stubborn self-righteous streak, saving the galaxy by solving one problem at a time, if he wasn't so likeable she'd hit him at moments like this. EDI's voice resonated around the cavern "Understood, Operative Lawson. I shall also monitor for any signals coming from your location - if you have encountered a Prothean data sphere then there may be significant quantities of data inside." EDI almost sounded excited - the recent change in her personality was very noticeable.

Alan took a step forward and reached out - everything went black.

* * *

**Andrea**

"Blue suns again, Massani? Are you rallying the old troops to give us some cannon fodder for the Geth?" Andrea Shepard stabbed the question at the old merc with her arms over her chest. Zaeed grinned "'course I haven't, you gonna jab me about that every time we find a 'suns merc? Just because Vido is dead, doesn't mean I know anything about these kids." And they were just kids, Shepard noticed. Most of the mercs they encountered were. Zaeed checked over the bodies and scouted around the cavern. "Shepard, I got something" Andrea walked over to Garrus and stood close to his side. Garrus coughed slightly and shuffled ever so slightly backwards as she smiled - it was one thing to flirt with Zaeed, but Garrus was in a league of his own, and despite all they had been through, his mission focus was impressive. He handed over the data pad, she frowned. "sounds like this team suffered some level of indoctrination." Zaeed overheard from the corner and looked troubled "Hopefully not from this object - you're sure it's Prothean, right?" Andrea grinned "it's definitely Prothean - I've encountered one of these before... " her grin faded briefly "Garrus, check the perimeter for any reaper tech - I don't want to end up like these scientists." Zaeed had searched the merc bodies, but found little else, but Garrus had been with her years ago, and they'd seen Reaper tech before. A few moments later, he returned "we're good. No reaper tech here - whatever affected these scientists is gone now."

As they approached the sphere, the hum grew louder. Zaeed folded his arms and shook his head "You're fucking crazy, you know that right?". Garrus grinned, "She's been touching strange objects for years and getting away with it, helps keep her alive, I think". Andrea laughed a little, "ok team, stay with me, we know it's a data recorder, but this one's big, and big rarely means good in this universe. Let's hope it's got some useful intel in it." and she reached forward to the sphere. Her black armor seemed to shine as she walked closer, and Garrus smiled as she took her decisive step forward. A green pulse radiated from where her finger touched the sphere, then everything went black.

* * *

**Kate**

"Very interesting! Surface extremely smooth, lack of indentation combined with constant resonating aural frequencies, plus ability to defy gravity, indicates an object of " "Prothean, yeah." Kate Shepard cut off the Salarian doctor before he could complete his sentence. Exceptionally talented he may be, but at times like this, Kate needed to think. Mordin had been keen to get off the ship for a while following their return from the Omega 4 relay, so she'd agreed that he could come along. The pause in his thoughts didn't last long, "Almost musical, hum not too dissimilar to Elcor orchestra bass section" Mordin had been strangely quiet on their way to the site, as Kate and Legion had concentrated on wiping out the Geth forces, his normal talkative demeanor changed markedly. Perhaps the Salarian was a little less than comfortable in the back of the Hammerhead. He was making up for that now - Salarians recover swiftly.

Kate ran a hand through her messy short auburn hair - her Cerberus reconstruction had sadly done nothing to improve on that. She had to cut off most of her hair when in her teens as a dare from a bunch of young Alliance recruits she'd met while waiting for her mother to meet her at the docks. It turned out to be a highly practical style for under a helmet, but it rarely behaved. She paused for a moment, "Mordin, these logs point towards some sort of indoctrination, is there anything you can gain from analyzing these bodies?" the Salarian looked thoughtful for a moment as he pulled out his omnitool, " hmm, looks like neural decay postmortem has set in to the point where detailed analysis is impossible. " Kate sighed, "guess we're too late this time." getting intel on indoctrination would have been a bonus.

"Shepard-Commander, Geth presence has been eliminated. We are recording all activity from the device and can assist with data analysis should any useful information be obtained from the transfer." Kate smiled, she had strange travelling companions, but they'd saved her back on many occasions. "Thanks Legion. Mordin, be ready in case this sphere has any kind of negative effects - I've not had much interaction with Prothean technology since I was brought back."

Kate stepped forward, her vision narrowed, darkened, and went black.

* * *

...Emony opened her eyes. She was standing - well, seemingly nowhere. The ground was a metallic smooth surface, like polished steel, but there was no visible end to it, it just faded into darkness. She turned around and paused. There were three people - all in N7 armor - standing near her.

...Kate turned and saw three people in armor - all different colors, a woman in red, one in black and purple, and a man in blue and yellow. It seemed they were all N7 Alliance, though none had any identification visible.

...Alan looked around. The woman in the white and blue looked angry. The one in black looked amused. The one in red was just quiet.

...Andrea couldn't help but smile - there she was, in a giant empty space, with three other N7? Well, it certainly made a change from previous sphere encounters. The room felt hollow and endless. And yet while it here was light enough to see, there was no obvious light source.

All four Shepards folded their arms and looked at each other.


	2. Chapter 2

**Emony**

Her head hurt - that sharp pain like a series of tiny needles burning holes from her forehead through to the back of her skull. She wondered what the Prothean mind must have been like. Their technology was obviously tuned to their physiology, and it was no surprise that each encounter caused some pain (along with the usual confusion and dizziness) but it would have been really nice if they could have made their beacons a little more accommodating. She had actually spent a lot of her downtime wondering what made her mind able to understand their technology - she was just a soldier, and yet after Eden Prime, her life had been thrown into a fast flowing river of events. Only occasionally would she be able to fork from that flow, alter her path, but the general flow seemed to pull her ever onwards, no matter what she did. Was she being guided, after all this time? Was her mind still her own, did she still have free will? Liara had enjoyed digging into her brain a couple of times, and both times Emony had tried to hide those thoughts from her - having someone in your head, even if they were on your side, was just not something she was comfortable with.

And now, here she was in this place, with three other people. This was not at all like a regular Prothean device - this experience felt real, coherent, and controlled. She lifted her hand, looked at her fingers, clenched and released her fist. She could feel her hands move normally in her armor. The air was still, and it was neither warm nor cold.

Obvious questions almost formed in her mouth, but she paused before asking any of them - where was she? Who were these people? Why was this experience different from the others? Was this actually a Prothean device or was this some sort of Reaper device after all? That thought made her pause. If this was a Reaper device, she'd need to be very careful about what she said, in case these people before her were not actually N7 Alliance.

She decided there were two main questions that she could ask. What is this place? and who are you? Keep it simple, reveal nothing.

She made her decision. And as the words came out of her mouth, she saw that the man standing in front of her said the exact same thing. "What is this place?" they chorused in unison.

About a second later, both the woman with black hair and black armor and the woman with short auburn hair and white armor came back with "Who are you?"

* * *

**Alan**

Alan felt out of his depth all of a sudden - so no-one here knew what was going on? Ok, careful, let's see where this goes. "So, that was weird." He offered. As he looked around he felt sure that these were real people near him, but that wasn't possible, was it? This must all be in his head, which made him a little more concerned. The woman with black hair stared at him with emerald green eyes and smiled slightly as she spoke "weird, yes, but then nothing about this place seems normal. I don't know about you guys but I'm getting the impression that none of us know where we are, exactly."

Alan decided to open up the conversation a little "So, wherever we are, we're able to converse with each other, we see each other, we're all human, not Prothean. We all seem to wear N7 armor, and that's not exactly common." he sighed, held up his hands then just plain asked "Are you guys real? or is this some sort of hallucination?"  
The woman in white and blue held up a hand "feels real to me, but this isn't what I was expecting." she paused as she thought about it some more... "No, this isn't what I expected. I'd assumed this was some form of data recorder, but this doesn't feel like a recording." She was right about that - the expectation when he'd touched the sphere was that there would be some kind of stabbing pain as images of the Prothean empire burned into his skull. Well, his head did indeed hurt, but there was no flood of images. He was now here, wherever here was. While the others were looking as confused as he was, he couldn't be sure they weren't VIs or AIs or images manipulated from his brain. He rubbed his temples and sighed, "Miranda said I shouldn't have touched that thing".

* * *

**Kate**

Miranda? Must be a coincidence, but Kate was curious "What thing?" The man looked up at her and seemed to be considering his next words carefully. Eventually he decided to follow up on her inquiry "a Prothean artifact" he said. The woman in red jumped in "A sphere?" Kate rubbed her temples and wondered if Biotics got headaches like this - she remembered Kaidan used to get migraines, but that was supposedly just an L2 thing. "A woman named Miranda told you, in your N7 armor, not to touch a Prothean sphere... and you touched it anyway?" she asked, not really believing this was happening, or perhaps it was, damn this headache.

The man continued "yeah, that's about right. Then I was here." Kate felt a chill, even though she was pretty sure the air hadn't actually changed temperature. This was too much of a coincidence. The N7 program was an elite group of the Alliance military, special forces operatives with the highest levels of proficiency who had graduated from the Interplanetary Combatives Training (ICT) program. There weren't many of them - Shepard herself was among them, Admiral Anderson was another. She knew most of the graduates on sight, and yet she didn't recognize any of these people.

But a Prothean sphere - to the best of her knowledge, she was the only one who had ever successfully interacted with any Prothean technology. And this was no regular sphere. "So, hands-up who else touched a sphere today?" and the hands went up.

* * *

**Andrea**

"Ok, look, this sounds really familiar, and there aren't many people who have successfully touched one of those things and survived with a shred of sanity. Whoever you guys are, wherever we are, we need to figure out how to get out, and whether we should actually head out of here immediately or not."

As Andrea finished her thought she felt even more confused than before - she wasn't even sure that made sense._ No, it had to make sense... we need an exit, always need an exit. We... but no, wait, I... there's no threat here. No hostile intention from anyone, and everyone's reluctant to speak, there's no voice directing us to do anything, and surely if this were some form of indoctrination there would be voices, ideas. No-one's armed, I don't even have a pistol, and my amp... doesn't even seem to be working_

Andrea tried to bring up her barrier but failed. Her amp was still there, but something was interfering. Made sense, if you're here because of some Prothean device messing with your brain.

Red spoke up "Most Prothean encounters end on their own - though if this is some kind of Prothean encounter, then it's a new one. So you mentioned Miranda - what if I say the name Garrus?" Andrea and the other two said "Vakarian?" in unison. Andrea's jaw involuntarily fell open - Garrus knows some other N7 who can interact with Prothean spheres? What the... she looked over at Red "So how do you know Garrus?" she managed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Emony**

Most of the galaxy knew who she was, and among the ranks of the N7s she'd become a bit of a legend. Not that she'd ever asked for legend status, but the PR after the battle for the Citadel had been extensive. Yet these people did not know who she was? Well, no harm in stating some very publicly known facts "We met back on the Citadel a couple of years ago when I was chasing down Saren." She remembered it clearly - as she was heading to the council chambers to present the evidence from Eden Prime, she'd run into him as he argued with Executor Palin. Kaidan and Ashley had been with her, and were awestruck by the place. The Citadel, back then, was a beautiful, peaceful sight. It was just a few short months later that she'd fought geth on those very stairs with Kaidan and Garrus by her side, as she'd made her way to prevent Saren from executing Sovereign's plan to bring back the Reapers.

She continued "then after the attack on the Citadel, we eventually went our separate ways... " she decided to leave out the part about being dead "... and I ran into him again on Omega a few months ago." As she paused, the other three all said "Archangel". She half chuckled, "we're beginning to sound like a chorus" the man spoke up, "yeah, this is definitely not your average Prothean experience".

Emony looked around at the other three faces, noting that there was little in common between them physically. Three women, one man, but all seem to be connected. N7, Prothean spheres, and they all knew Garrus. And they knew he had gone by the name of Archangel while on Omega. "Okay, what is this? Some Prothean projection of aspects of my personality, somehow projected into this space here with me? Though I wouldn't ever wear a Kestrel torso - they're too uncomfortable around the chest..." she paused and rubbed her neck briefly before continuing, "... or you're all here from some sort of alternative... place. Based on what we know, these spheres normally store information, but a sphere of this size could do stuff with brains that is beyond my knowledge." she held up her hands, "I specialized in biotic combat at ICT, Vanguard division, so I don't have any tech skills to speak of." The man chimed in "I'm a biotic specialist, so nothing here on the tech side." The other two women held up their hands, the one in black spoke first.

* * *

**Andrea**

"I'm a biotic too, but I did tech training at ICT, Sentinel division." Andrea smiled, "but that doesn't make me a Prothean expert. It also seems that my Omni-tool is completely useless here, so beyond what we see here, I'm not much help." The woman in white spoke up, "I have zero biotic ability, I'm an infiltration specialist. My 'tool's dead too, but doing some guess work, I'd say either she's right with the whole brain hallucination stuff or this is some sort of parallel universe, where we're all similar people, similar experiences, but obviously not the same person. Does that make sense?"

Andrea chuckled, "heck a parallel universe would be a blessing right now, reckon there are any that don't have Reapers in them?" 'White had to smile at that thought. "I think we all want one of those... but we don't have a choice. Am I right?" and they all nodded.

A parallel universe - would explain why Garrus had never mentioned knowing other N7s who'd interacted with Prothean devices. In theory, something like this was possible, but to actually bridge realities like this was a complete unknown. From the small amount of galactic science theory she'd studied (and from many drunken nights debating life, the universe and everything while she was at the Alliance Academy) she figured that the parallel universe theory went along the lines that with every choice you make, there would be a fork. Yeah, there were other discussions about chaos and butterflies and stuff, but she'd narrowed it down to forks. Do I have another drink or not? Do I shoot that guy or throw him out the window? Do I put up with the accusations of some dumbass reporter, or do I just punch her? Do I date the cute guy with the dark hair or the pretty asari? Or do neither, damn them, she'd had enough on her plate back then to deal with without romantic competition for her affection on her crew!

Andrea wasn't the sort to date - she'd flirt, oh yes, and she'd string 'em along, but guys would just run out of interesting before anything got anywhere. She'd got sick of attention back in the academy, and after Torfan, most guys had been too intimidated by her to ever try their luck. It was only after years of fighting side-by-side with Garrus that she found herself flirting with him one day and, to her amazement, he'd seemed to enjoy it. After that little revelation, his awkward expressions of affection had caused her a lot of joy, and their mutual trust and admiration had made for a very comfortable and natural deepening to their friendship.

She'd made a decision, then, to bring down her shields and relax a little around him, and for the first time in her life in many years, she was truly happy. She'd bonded with her crew all the more after that experience, finding that there was a genuine affection that had developed between them all, which was insane considering their different backgrounds. And, with hindsight, she'd realized what she had lost from the old SR-1. She'd closed them all out back then, stayed alone, as she always had.

All of the decisions she'd made in her life to this point defined who she was. To see three other people here with some common experiences, but such obvious differences, was fascinating.

* * *

**Kate**

Kate weighed up the options in her mind, her infiltration training took over - the shot was lined up, take the shot: "This seems to be the closest thing to a parallel reality to me, though I'm no scientist..." she started to get a little more buzzed "... I mean, we all have similar backgrounds and all know Garrus. Hey, any of you guys called Shepard?" she asked, but not quite expecting the result, she found her jaw dropped as they all responded "yep". "What, all of you? Ok, we can't possibly have the same first names too - I'm Kate" and she pointed to the man on her left, who responded "Alan". He pointed to 'red on his left, "Emony" and that left 'black to respond with "Andrea".

Different first names - but hey, different genders, hair color, specialist skills, choice in armor... same but different. Mix up the dna of two people and you'll get a wide variety of potential offspring. Male or female was just one possibility, but there was always the chance of recessive genes making an entrance, where two blonde parents could have a red haired child. Subsequent children could have completely different physical traits, going back down the line, so no two could have the same makeup. That meant that these realities must have forked at some point before Shepard was born. And biotic ability tended to arise mostly from Eezo exposure in the womb, so the fact that she had no biotic abilities compared to the others was not a surprise. She wondered what the child of a biotic and a non-biotic would be like - could biotic mutations be passed on? Would they be? Maybe one day she should ask Kaidan... after punching him for Horizon. She shook that thought firmly out of her mind and pulled herself back to the present.

Kate would have loved to have the team here to figure this one out. She'd always leaned on her team for their advice and analysis, so to be without them was disconcerting. While Kate had no trouble forming opinions and taking action quickly, she just preferred to get those opinions in before she took action where possible. Without that feedback, here, she was left with her own instincts. Reload, line up the next shot, take it.

"If this is a meeting of parallel realities, then our existence, differences, and so on, come from forks in the timeline. One change here, one change there, a new fork - a whole universe emerges." Kate paused to consider her history, her most recent potential forks. Reload. "A simple example - I could have chosen not to touch the Prothean sphere. Or, here's another one - I just blew up a Collector base. I could have saved the base for analysis, I had the choice. I had to choose, and I had just moments to make that choice."

Kate had been balanced precariously on the hovering platforms, Kasumi and Miranda by her side, all three had fought through waves of husks and collectors to get this far. And now to be confronted by a human reaper, the three humans faced it squarely, none of them flinching from their task to destroy the creature that had been grown from the processed remains of human colonists. Human DNA, twisted, combined with synthetics, mutated into a grotesque creature that had towered above them. If the Reapers wanted to instil fear into the humans of the galaxy, this was most certainly one way to do it.

So when the Illusive Man had broken through to talk to them on the comm channels, Kate was filled with bile at the thought of keeping such a monstrosity intact. She'd see one of the Horizon colonists "processed" infront of her eyes, the horrified screams of terror as her skin had melted from her face. Processed - Dr Chakwas had used that term - moments later and she would have been melted down too. How dare he even contemplate keeping that thing intact!

Of course, after she'd got back to the Normandy, she'd thought about it some more. He did have a point - damn him, he always did - such a creature would make for fascinating study for sure, but not at this cost. Not this time, not on her watch. She didn't doubt her decision to destroy it, and she would have made that decision again.

* * *

**Andrea**

"Ok that's a fair assessment of the situation - and I get what you mean on the forks... I had that same choice a couple of weeks ago. I decided to keep that ship intact, despite the horrific things that had happened... the Reapers will commit far worse atrocities on this galaxy and we need all the assets we can get to understand what they're capable of. That said, I would rather find a way to get it out of the hands of Cerberus, he may have funded my resurrection, but I do not trust the Illusive Man. I cut him off soon as I got back to the ship, had EDI block all lines of communication." she paused before continuing - still cautious, still not fully trusting the people who appeared in front of her.

Mistrust had been her entire way of life as a kid. Growing up rough on the streets gave her no choice, it was kill or be killed, take what you needed to survive or die. She let her guard down a couple of times as a kid - it hadn't ended well. And while she left that behind her when she found her way into the Alliance, it would never leave her.

"When it comes to the future of galaxy, I can't afford to be picky." She realized she was shouting again - Garrus had tried to encourage her to quell that instinct. Be more stealthy, infiltrate the conversation, don't overload it! Easy enough for him to say, with his ruthless Turian upbringing instilling a lot of control into everything he did. The only time she'd seen him truly lose it was when they went to apprehend Sidonis. You don't want to be on the dark side of Garrus Vakarian. But to Andrea, this made her feel safe. This was a man who would do anything to protect the ones he cared about, and would go to any length to keep them safe. Or avenge them, if things went bad.

She took a deep breath. "So, that's one potential fork, and we both chose opposite paths - did you two save the base?" she looked at Emony and Alan who shared a glance - "No" in unison. There was an awkward pause. "Oh." said Andrea. "So, er... how'd that work out for you then?".


	4. Chapter 4

**Alan**

Alan looked over at Andrea - she'd made a hard choice, and so had he. Who was to say who would be right and wrong when the dust settled. There was never black and white, there was only ever grey. Would his call be any better than hers? Alan cleared his throat, "I understand your thinking, but like Kate, I wasn't going to leave that thing for the Illusive Man. I never bought his speeches on the value of humanity when he was responsible for so many atrocities. Admiral Kahoku, Thorian Creepers, even going so far as to clone Rachni? I may have been out of it for 2 years but I was never going to forget what he did, what he was capable of."

Cerberus history - Miranda had always managed to gloss over the details whenever he pressed her on the shady past of her employer. She'd held fast, a valued and trusted agent of TIM himself. But she'd been there when they encountered the Collectors on Horizon. She'd been there when they discovered the hell-hole that had been the Pragia facility. She'd been there when they boarded the not-so-disabled Collector ship. She'd heard Tali's side of the incident between Cerberus and the Quarian Flotilla.

Truth be told, it was hard not to hear Tali's side of the story - and that was one of Tali's best qualities. She never held back, always fought for what she believed in. And she believed with all her heart that Cerberus could never be trusted. It didn't take much for Alan to make his decision to destroy the base, but he definitely understood Andrea's decision. But to see the other perspective standing right there in front of him, to see someone who had made a different decision, made him take pause.

How many of his decisions had been easy? Too few. Most had been at a cost - what if saving the Rachni Queen came back to haunt him? He'd had no end of questions after that mission, but genocide wasn't a decision to ever be made lightly, especially when the creature had spoken so earnestly of her desire to live a peaceful private existence. Contrasted to the Thorian - the smell alone would haunt him to his dying day... again. The creepers that spat toxic venom on their victims, hoards of them, relentlessly chasing them and spewing that vile substance that had resisted even their most rigorous decontamination protocols. Tali had remained on the Normandy to assist Adams with some engine calibrations while they were on Feros. Just as well - the rest of the team had been forced to completely discard their armor (and more) in decon.

Alan paced from side to side as he thought through the situation - he was no scientist, but it made some sort of crazy sense. But it didn't make it any less crazy. A parallel, alternate reality? He'd watched old holo vids of science fiction shows in the past, but going by those he should be meeting with three men with different facial hair. He wasn't just here with a different version of himself, this was much less cut and dry. "We've likely all made hard decisions in the past, and yet we're all standing here right now. Something must be common to us all, there has to be a reason why four people who have made different decisions along the way would end up here, now." He scratched his head, "I guess what I mean is, why did we all end up here, the four of us... we have had a similar experience with the Collector base, though with different outcomes. We all know Garrus. It sounds like we all met Garrus at the Citadel, chased and defeated Saren, met Garrus again a couple of years later..." Alan faltered - the two year gap... they all seem to have met up with Garrus after an unspecified time, the implication being that these others had also been through the destruction of the Normandy SR-1. He decided to take another route before that part.

"Ok, so around the same time when I met Garrus I also met a Quarian called Tali; she was instrumental in helping me find evidence against Saren. Between her, Garrus, an Asari called Liara and a Krogan called Urdnot Wrex, we were a major pain in the publicity machine of the Alliance for a year". He chuckled, poor Khalisah al-Jilani, how she had tried and failed to bait him into revealing the details of his operation as ammunition on an opinion piece on the anti-human stance of the Council. "but I couldn't have done it without them." He paused, as Emony piped up, "Yep, I had Garrus, Liara, Wrex and Tali with me too, as well as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams and Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko." Andrea and Kate both chimed in "same here". He grinned, "we're sounding more like a circus act all the time". As he paused, Kate stepped forward "Yeah, well as long as we don't start doing synchronized back flips I think we'll survive." Alan looked at her and decided to be direct. "So, what's your story?"

* * *

**Kate**

Kate grinned, "a little direct there, but heck, I'll bite! How about I pretend like you know nothing about me and you can make up your own minds when I'm done" she folded her arms and took a step back, Kate looked straight at Alan, who simply responded "Sure, carry on!". The challenge was issued, time to re-establish who was king of the shooting range. "Commander Shepard, Alliance Military, I grew up on ships, parents in the military. I joined the Alliance soon as I was old enough." Kate wanted no other life, the Alliance was in her blood. Despite both of her parents serving in the Alliance, they had somehow made it work. Her mother was always supportive of her desire to join up, which was reassuring. Kate had always been closer to her mother emotionally than her father, though she had learned a lot from his ability with a rifle.

She'd trained hard - focussed all her energy on success, never failing, never compromising. Then, Akuze. Kate took a moment and then continued. "After I lost my unit in a Thresher Maw attack on Akuze, I got... praised. Which never made any fucking sense to me then, nor does it now. For some reason, knowing how to stand on a rock and stay off the dirt was cause for celebration. I've fought many maws ever since, apparently my intel on Akuze has saved lives." But it didn't save her squad - fifty marines lost their lives, and they praised her. Lose fifty human lives, get praise and a gold star for surviving, but dare to fraternize with another marine and you could be booted out.

"Few years later and a couple more scars, I ended up being assigned the XO position on the SSV Normandy SR-1. While defending Eden Prime from a Geth attack, I encountered a Prothean Beacon." Kate grinned, it had been one hell of an encounter. She'd been too busy to notice Kaidan walking towards the beacon. She'd had to throw him out of the way, and as chance had it, she'd been zapped good and proper by that beacon. "I have to wonder what would have happened if I hadn't pushed Kaidan out of the way of the beacon - I mean, we're all here for decisions we made. What if I hadn't noticed until it was too late? Could he have handled that beacon?" Emony smiled, "Kaidan's got quite a head on his shoulders, he may have been able to handle it, especially with his biotic abilities." Alan frowned, "I had to push Ash out of the way - she got too close, Kaidan and I didn't notice until it was almost too late." Andrea pointed out the obvious, "well, it's clear that the four of us all got fried by that beacon or we likely wouldn't be here now... Ash didn't make it in my reality." Alan shook his head, "mine either - she died on Virmire, we were under heavy attack, she held strong at the bomb site, I couldn't reach her in time to get her out of there." The sadness reflected in their faces, Ash was dead for all of them. Kaidan had lived every time.

Kate paused to let that thought settle - all here having touched a sphere, all had previous experience with beacons. Ash died, Kaidan lived on. Perhaps that shared history was part of the reason they all met here in this space. She looked around the room - they all saved Kaidan? What if that wasn't all they shared? _Ouch - gotta stop thinking... would that even be... well, she didn't know they existed, he couldn't know... there must be parallel Kaidans, he could be completely different in their worlds - would he be? What makes us unique? Why were they so different, and yet so similar? What would Kaidan be like if things were different? Back to the story..._ Kate shook her had, cleared her throat, now was NOT the time for that sort of thinking. "Ok, so after I got inducted into the Spectres I spent most of the next year hunting down Saren Arterius, a rogue Spectre."

It had been a wild year, Geth, Thorians, Rachni, more Geth, and some mercs. She'd paced up and down the SR-1 between missions talking to every single one of her crew. Kate liked to know who she worked with, that sort of intel could save you. Ship under attack? Throw the medigel to the crewman with better than average score in basic medical, not the engineer with perfect scores on the shooting range who would be better suited to removing intruders. "Turned out Saren was indoctrinated by a Reaper called Sovereign. I couldn't convince the Council to take action until it was too late, but we managed to defeat Sovereign at the cost of many Alliance ships. I was sent out after to clean up the remaining Geth presence, but we were apprehended by what turned out to be a Collector ship. We... I..." Kate took a deep breath, remembering the pain, searing burning in her chest as the oxygen starvation had kicked in. Couldn't breathe, the pain, the panic... she'd tried to avoid it all this time... breathe again, reload.

"The Normandy was lost, I got spaced. I woke up 2 years later in a med bay on a Cerberus ship." She had lost it all, and it hurt still like a fresh wound. She'd never had time for relationships or anything more than mild fun during her training. It was very well known throughout the Alliance that fraternization was frowned on, but that had never bothered her much. After Akuze, she re-thought a few things. Her parents had made it work, and it had been a battle with their superiors. But she got her unit eaten by maws in the middle of the night, their screams echoing through the valley for hours. And she'd been _praised_.

Never having thought about it too deeply, Kate had simply accepted Alliance life and protocol. Never really questioned it until then. She'd balanced Akuze against what she knew of her parent's relationship and it had festered inside her mind over the years. She'd stayed true to her training, remained a soldier to the core, until her time on the Normandy. She'd woken up one day and realized that something had changed - it must have been after Therum, or maybe after the beacon itself. Since their mission to Ilos, her time with Kaidan had really pushed some boundaries, and they'd risked their careers in their attempts to keep it quiet from the rest of the crew. It had been glorious, and her time with him in the following few weeks was treasured. But they'd had such a short time together before the accident. And then it was gone. Reload.

Next shot, line it up, she moved on rapidly "Turns out the Illusive Man rebuilt both me and the Normandy, so I spent the next few months taking his intel, gathering a crew, and used them to screw the collectors where it hurt. Mission complete, I told Illusive to fuck off, he didn't like that so much. Since then I've been freelancing, putting a dent in the merc population, looking out for fringe colonies, that sort of thing." Blunt, short, get moving, find more cover, engage cloak. "So, that's pretty much me," she found herself blurting out "so who else broke regs with Kaidan back on the SR-1?" Heat sink jammed. Damn.


	5. Chapter 5

**Emony**

"Wow, er, that's quite a question..." she shifted uneasily from foot to foot, "you, er... what, you too?" Emony wasn't sure exactly what to say, but she felt very defensive. This woman, with Kaidan? Not her Kaidan, couldn't be the same, but it still felt wrong. How can two people share something so powerful and intimate, and yet find that someone else did the same? That's assuming it meant anything to her - or him. Such an abrupt question, how the hell could she even begin to respond to that? And how could she NOT respond to it?

Emony fought back urges to lash out and build this into an argument; she'd practiced this almost every day since Torfan. This conversation was NOT happening, and that was her response. "Look, this is getting off topic, let's stop and think for a moment." She ran her fingers through her red hair, still distracted. Kaidan had meant everything to her, he'd pulled her out of her past, given her stability and balance. He'd tempered her fire and channelled it into fighting for people who needed help. She'd never realized how much she'd needed him until she met him.

Emony had a reputation of being someone who could get the job done. No matter the cost. But that cost had bitten her in the past, scores of Batarians dead, her own unit almost destroyed. Her fire had burned that day, her anger had driven her, and she'd let it take control of her. Those Batarians were criminals, violent thugs. They'd participated in the attack on Elysium as part of the Skyllian Blitz, and while the pirates and mercs had been held off and driven away successfully, there were some deaths. No-one considered Elysium to have been a failure, it was successfully defended, war heroes gathered the non-combatants and protected them! Lives were saved, a triumph!

But among the few deaths had been an old friend, Tobin. He'd been planet-side visiting family when the attack came. He was an engineer, not a soldier, and they'd been close friends for years since basic training, his geeky shy nervousness was endearing, but he had a very sharp mind. During the attack, he'd tried to protect his squad, and had run out to repair a shield generator. He'd managed to repair it, but it was too late to protect himself. His was the first personal death she'd encountered, and it had fuelled her fire on Torfan. The fleeing Batarians never stood a chance, for too long the Alliance had tolerated these monsters - they were slavers, pirates, mercenaries and barbarians, and she'd made damn sure the Batarians would think twice before ever crossing the Alliance again. Tobin shouldn't have died that day, the line had been crossed, and Emony had to put a stop to these attacks.

Facing death was something she had to do all too often, but when it was personal, it burned - _she_ burned, and an unrestrained Emony was not something to question. But Torfan taught her a painful lesson. Her own unit had sustained many losses, and the surrendering Batarians were gunned down without mercy. As the rage started to subside, she saw one wounded Batarian looking up at her, his torso ripped to shreds from a shotgun blast at point blank range. He'd looked up at her, as the last breath left him, and his three remaining eyes stopped blinking. She stopped, looked around at the horror all around her, looked at her hands, covered in the blood of one of her squad from her failed attempt to stop the bleeding from a piece of shrapnel that had pierced his chest.

She'd vowed there and then that she would do all in her power to never again sacrifice lives unnecessarily where there was a peaceful option. Tobin had been a genius, and his skill with engineering saved lives. Emony was a soldier, a biotic, and so much more, but the part of her that he had spoken to was the intelligence inside, the part of her that could reason and debate. Her anger on Torfan was not how he should be remembered, his patience, attention to detail, and sharp intellect had won him the respect of his fellow crewmates, and of Emony herself, and that was what should be carried on. She used those skills, honed them over the years, and her personal mission would always be to rise above petty insults, to find the path of least resistance, and to protect those she loved with her life. Keep them safe, then she'd never have to mourn them, or avenge them.

Death's the most painful part of life. The death of others hurts more than your own death, because you can never leave other deaths behind. They stay with you, they are with you always, and they come back at inconvenient times. She often had flashbacks to moments in the mess hall, Tobin sitting in front of her, moving peas around on his dinner tray, discussing how and why a pea is a pea. How peas on a tray with curves would roll in a specific way. It was endearing, it was sweet, and it was non-threatening. Most guys had an agenda. He didn't. Other deaths stay, remain, and come back. Your own - physically hurts, but you don't have to live with it.

Unless, of course, you get brought back to life, Cerberus throw you back into the fray, your former allies and friends have had to go through mourning for two whole years. They've had to live through that pain, the flashbacks, the memories. She'd done that to them, she didn't have to live with that guilt until Cerberus brought her back. And then she was back, and they were not.

Tali - she'd had other things to do when they'd reunited, but seeing her again was such a warm feeling. Her awkwardness reminded Emony of Tobin in many ways. Garrus - he'd jumped at the chance of working with her again, and she'd been so very grateful. His friendship had been a rock, his own lust for vengeance resonating within her, and she'd done everything she could to stop him from his own personal Torfan. No-one needs to live with those memories, no-one should have to be called a butcher.

Wrex? Damn him, he had a throne! She'd grown to love that pig-headed Krogan, he was so very predictable, but such a powerful ally, and a dry wit that had caused her much amusement in the past. When she'd met him on Tuchanka, she saw a leader, and she was so proud of him. He was pushing so hard for peace, he had grand ideas, and someone as crazy as Wrex might just pull it off.

Kaidan. He was Alliance, his hands would naturally be tied, full of orders. Their relationship had broken regulations, their symbiosis as biotics had made for an immense powerhouse on the battlefield, but all of that had been shaken by her death. But unlike her, his grief had not grown to anger in the same way. His even-tempered approach had given him a darker outlook. Their meeting on Horizon had been painful. His utterance of "loved" in the very past tense cut deeper than she ever thought possible. She saw the hurt, betrayal in his eyes. She stood before him, representing the very organization they had worked so hard to destroy. She felt like she'd been kicked, battered and left defenceless after their meeting, and yet she understood and forgave him all the same. He clearly didn't have as much intel as she did about the attack on Horizon, which gave her concerns about the Alliance intelligence networks. The Illusive Man did not share, which made no sense. If his goal was to protect Humanity, then surely sharing intel made sense?

Instead of vengeance and anger, Kaidan had shown his personal hurt to her. He'd been attacked by the Collectors - the same Collectors that had attacked and destroyed the Normandy SR-1, leaving her scattered remains on Alchera. Leaving Shepard dead. Yet Kaidan was angry with her, for the hurt she caused him, for not leaving with him in that escape pod, and not angry with the Collectors. Because she was there, the Collectors were not.

She fought back the memories, and as she did so, Emony realized that neither Andrea nor Alan had said anything. She turned to them, "So, while I don't want to dwell on this, but bear with me a moment... it seems that Kate and I have both had a relationship with Kaidan, ... er different Kaidan's..." she coughed, this was not her normal sort of conversation, and she was very much out of her comfort zone. "but I take it neither of you have? And yet, in your realities, Kaidan is still alive, but not Ashley? surely one of us must have saved them both? Someone must have seen a better path?" and in that moment, she saw something. A reason for them to meet, a reason for being in this place, and the all-important strategic value of being in the same room with yourself having made different decisions. What if she'd made a different call? What if...

"We each have made important decisions - what if, between us, we figure out where we made different decisions. We can pool our knowledge of the outcomes, we can find common ground, we could end up with crucial intelligence that could help sway the outcome against the Reapers! Can we even do that? Or are there too many points that are different?" she looked over at Andrea, who was starting to look agitated.

* * *

**Andrea**

As she processed that thought, Andrea's brain was running on overdrive. She'd never been with Kaidan, though she'd been tempted all those years ago, it seemed here she was with two women who had chosen otherwise. She balanced the ideas that had been put forth, pacing the floor, "Well, I don't know, but it's worth a shot". This Emony had a point. Andrea thought through all she had learned about these three so far. As she looked around at the other others, the physical differences were so noticeable. They each had different opinions and had made some different choices. But with some key common events shared, there had to be more in this that could be used for some strategic advantage.

She continued the line of thinking and started to bake that thought. "We know there are differences between our realities - I'm not and have never been with Kaidan for starters, Ashley died on Virmire along with that Salarian STG unit in my reality, but there has to be something we can use out of this that could help us." She paused for a moment to think but Alan stepped in and interrupted her train of thought, "but while I lost Ashley, Captain Kirrahe made it out alive with some of his squad".

Andrea stared at him, taken aback "What? How the..." she looked at Kate, who shrugged "yep, he made it for me too". "And me," concurred Emony. As Andrea's mouth snapped back closed, she felt her jaw go tense, how the hell did they save him? She'd tried her best, disabling a satellite uplink and fighting off the Geth while Ashley and Kirrahe had played the diversion card, but she had been unable to stop the Geth Flyers in time. They must have found a way. Andrea felt alone in the room once again. Would that one hunt her down too? Would his death prove to be her undoing? One life can make a difference - but there must be plenty more forks they each made, these three couldn't have all made the same choices. Andrea thought back to some of her own mission-critical decisions - she had to try to limit it to just the ones that would have forked. The past couple of years had certainly been eventful, but she started to filter the events down to just a few such decisions to choose from. All those damn reports she'd had to file were back in the forefront of her mind, explaining and justifying every action and decision she had made to her superiors.

"Ok, so back when we were fighting Saren, I remember there was a moment when I had reached the Citadel Tower, and the Destiny Ascension called in for help." She looked round at the others "I chose to advise the Alliance forces to hold back from assisting - the council were a bunch of incompetent idiots, and I figured that we'd need those forces to protect the rest of the Citadel from Sovereign." she sighed. "I guess politics has never been my strong point - but I did wonder what might have happened if I had found a way to save the Destiny Ascension, the Council and the rest of the fleet, AND bring down Sovereign."

Kate suddenly piped up, "I saved the council - bunch of fucking idiots, but I was a Spectre, they were technically my commanding officers... I had to save them as my duty. I sent in the fleet, saved the council. My decision contributed to the loss of a bunch of Alliance ships, but the Council was saved..." Andrea sighed in frustration, "but that's just it, the cost! The council read all my reports and they did NOTHING to defend the Citadel! They ignored all the evidence, threw it all back at me, grounded my damn ship then had the audacity to ask for help! You sacrificed human ships and hundreds of lives for THEM?" She looked over at Alan and Emony - who both said "I saved the council" at the same time. Andrea chuckled, "freaking circus. Are you two twins? no, wait, we've done that one... ok, so I am the only one that lost the council? Was there no way to save the council at minimal cost?"

Emony shook her head, "There was a choice, I saw no way to save both the council and the fleet AND defeat Sovereign." But Andrea was already lost in thought, trying to replay the scenario in her mind. Was there anything they could have done differently? There had been no way to contact the fleet before she'd arrived at the Citadel. After the improv trip through the conduit, the miniature Mass Relay that directly connected Ilos to the Citadel Presidium, she'd had to race to reach the tower before Saren and Sovereign had enough time to execute their plans. The Reapers were waiting for a signal, and she had to do everything in her power to stop that from happening. She had been standing in the tower, the alarms blazing. Garrus and Wrex by her side, she'd made the call to abandon the council with ease. Sacrifice some for the good of the many, and those guys were weasels.

"After that, humanity finally got their seat on the council, and Anderson was made the human Ambassador..." she was cut off abruptly by Kate, "Anderson? I recommended Udina, rat that he is, there's no way I would force that kind of political bullshit on Anderson!" Andrea looked over at Emony and Alan, "so, you two?" Emony and Alan double-act "Anderson". Andrea held a hand to her head, "Shit - this is really messed up..."

And yet they were all still standing there talking to each other, in similar situations. "This is crazy, I lost the council, I had to go back to the Citadel and face scorn and bile from shop owners two years later, and yet here we are having all just attacked the Collector base. You would think a fork like that would have serious implications, a real branch in our realities, and yet here we are!" if a life-changing decision like saving or abandoning the Council had little long-term effect, how could this encounter change anything? "We make all our choices and yet here we are now - all of us. All these realities are forked and branched and all that, and yet we're still here." Kate shook her head, "it's too early to make that call, we still don't know enough about what we did after that point to jump to conclusions. There could be something really important we're overlooking - carry on, what happened to you next?"

Andrea continued "Ok, so given those choices, based on what I've heard from each of you, and Kate has already said most of this, but it sounds like we all had to deal with the Normandy being destroyed a couple of weeks later, regardless of who was in charge of the council. We all, presumably, got spaced in the process, and woke up in a Cerberus lab two years later - am I right?"

The silent approval of the others was deafening. They all had the same experience of being rebuilt by the Illusive Man. They all went and met up with Garrus, and ended up at the Collector base. "I lost Kirrahe, you all saved him. I kept the base, you all destroyed it. I lost the council, you all kept it, and we are all here standing in the same room." As Andrea thought through the options, she started seeing a path, but really didn't like where it lead. Despite all the decisions she had made, the impact on other people's lives and the consequences of those decisions, so far the central theme was that her own path hadn't deviated that much from those others standing in front of her, despite all her choices. "Does anything we do have any real impact on the outcome, or is the timeline of Commander Shepard a constant across the universe?"

Alan jumped in, "You can't think like that!" no, you just couldn't think that way, it couldn't work that way, could it? "That's just crazy talk - you've affected people's lives," he could see Andrea's downward spiral starting to escalate, and hastily added "you've saved lives on those Alliance vessels, those soldiers and their families live because of your actions" Andrea spat back "and how many humans suffered on the citadel because of my actions? I had to listen to Bailey and his team dealing with anti-humanity violence, I lost my Spectre status, then got shafted by the Alliance when I was trying to save Human colonies!" She felt her fists harden as her temper rose. "So how was it when you got back to the Citadel? Did you get to grovel and beg for your Spectre status from the oh-so-wonderful fucking Council?" This kiss-ass idiot was really pissing her off.


	6. Chapter 6

**Alan**

"Actually, I got zero help from the Alliance, I had to assemble a crew based on dossiers from the Illusive Man, because neither the Alliance nor the Council would help me, despite having my Spectre status reinstated." Andrea spat back, "let me guess, first set of dossiers were given the gloriously vague titles of Professor, Archangel, Convict and Warlord" Alan shrugged, ok she had a point, this was pretty similar. "Yep, same for me too, though I also got two more, for a Veteran and a Master Thief. And working through that list, I gathered a Salarian called Mordin Solus, Garrus, a crazy biotic called Jack and a tank-grown Krogan called Grunt for my crew, followed by Zaeed Massani and Kasumi Goto. Is that the same for the rest of you?" Andrea's frustration was still evident, "Yes, of course it is!" she snapped as she folded her arms. Her green eyes were almost glowing in the eerie non-light of the room. She looked nothing like him - none of them did, really, though Emony had a similar nose. Andrea and Kate's skin looked a shade darker, but that could have been the light. He had blue eyes, as did Emony - in another reality they could have been related.

Was that how it worked? Could that even be possible? He'd grown up on Mindoir, though it was technically possible that she may have been there too, the physical similarities were there but surely he would have known her? He looked directly at her and asked "Where did you grow up?" Emony paused for a moment before replying "I was a spacer kid, like Kate". Scratch that one then - he looked back at Andrea, who replied "I was born on Earth, but don't know who my parents were". At least he'd known his parents for the first 16 years of his life, which had been horrifically changed when his friends and family were slaughtered in front of him by slavers.

You start your life with all the fun of being a kid in the colonies. Earth was the stuff of legend, the great homeworld! The sort of place you'd hear about so often on the news vids, and you'd see landmarks of each place mentioned frequently. It felt so strange when he'd first actually visited Earth for the first time, but that hadn't been until after Mindoir. The shining illusion of the homeworld was shattered - it was dirty, smelly, and still overpopulated, despite the growth of colony worlds like his own home. He missed the trees and fields of crops that swayed in the wind, he missed the oily smell of the machinery on the farms, he missed playing with his friends and running across the hillside for hours. He didn't miss the clouds of black smoke, the smell of his world on fire. The screams of his friends, the gurgling and splashing sounds that they'd made as the Batarians had gunned them down as they fled. Those that had stayed - some were taken as slaves, forced to do unspeakable things for their masters.

Alan had survived mostly by chance, hit on the head by a stray table, the blood that had gushed from the wound made for the perfect disguise as he laid unconscious among his fallen friends. But he'd been strong and healthy, so while the bloody mess of his face had looked horrific, it left only a throbbing headache as he lay there, still, dazed and confused. The Alliance had shown up, though they had been out-gunned and unable to assist in time. Alan had lost everything that day, and he'd never had the chance to find out more about his family's background.

He'd been brought back to Earth and enlisted in the Alliance shortly after, since after his rescue it had been noted that he had significant biotic potential that he'd never really known til the day of the attack. As he gradually regained consciousness, he'd been sure that he was going to be discovered by one of the Batarians on patrol, but somehow he'd pushed him away so hard the Batarian fell back against the hard corner of a fallen closet and snapped his neck. His first kill, and he had no idea how he'd done it. The Alliance could help with that, and help they did with training from their nascent biotics division.

"I lost my family on Mindoir to an attack by Batarian slavers, I ended up being taken to Earth and had considerable Biotic training when I joined the Alliance. I guess Mindoir had some Eezo veins running through the hills." Emony jumped in, "I remember Mindoir - my Mother's ship was sent to assist, the Einstein!" Kate hurriedly replied, "mine too!" as she paused briefly, a mask of realization on her face - "Hannah Shepard, right?" As Emony agreed with Kate, Alan looked at them both staring at each other - physically so different, Emony's long crooked nose and sharp cheekbones much like his own, Kate with a small, upturned nose and wide round eyes - she looked completely unrelated.

Alan looked over at Andrea, and reluctantly had to add fuel to her fire. "Colonist, Earth-born and two Spacers. There's no way we can all have the same parents, we have completely different backgrounds, and yet we all fought Saren and then the Collectors - I hate to say it but you could be onto something." Andrea gave a half laugh but said nothing, she took no pleasure from this. Alan pressed on, "so if that's true, if the key events in our lives since the encounter with the beacon are more or less fixed, what does that mean for any of us? Is this all some big Prothean practical joke? What the hell did they do to our heads, and where do we go from here?"

* * *

**Kate**

Kate stepped in and lined up her options. There weren't many other key events to mention that could be forks, right? Unless things had gone differently for these guys... what if... line up the shot "Ok so after gathering my squad I heard that the colony of Horizon was under attack, and that Kaidan was there. I raced over there as fast as I could but the Collectors had already made off with most of the colonists." as she paused for a moment she remembered the stinging of the Seeker swarms on her barrier, the ominous buzz in the air of these insect-like creatures. The Collectors - who turned out to be altered Protheans - had been thorough.

As she'd walked through the empty buildings she'd encountered colonists that had been attacked by the swarms. She looked at them for signs of life - they were alive but completely frozen and unable to move. Paralysed by the bugs, it must have been horrific, but nothing compared to what happened to the most unfortunate of them. Those that Kate had been unable to save had been shipped into pods and carried off into the ship, harvested for some at-the-time unknown purpose.

She'd fought off the Collectors as fast as she could, desperate to find Kaidan among the colony. As the ship rose up and left, her heart sank and she felt the emptiness of failure. Too late, despite all their best efforts. Was that how he had felt when she was spaced? Seconds were all that separated them - all she'd had to do was get in that pod, and yet she was too slow in rescuing Joker to get in there. He must have felt like this; desperate, empty, failed.

She'd been about to head back to the Normandy after she ended up arguing with one of the remaining colonists, only to be completely surprised as Kaidan himself had walked over to her from behind a crate. Her heart had leapt, and their embrace had been so sweet and so very overdue. But then came the kick in the teeth. Time to take that shot. "So, after fighting off the Collectors, I finally find Kaidan, and all I get from him is a heap of anger and spite, and he refused to help me." Emony sighed, "Yeah, our past didn't make a difference, all he saw was Cerberus, and I can't say I blame him for refusing to help me". Kate spluttered back, "What? after all you'd gone through with him, and him with you, you just forgave him for his actions?"

Emony flashed suddenly, and for a brief moment, Kate saw something very different in her eyes, but it disappeared fast as Emony closed her eyes and took a deep breath before replying, "I had no choice - I was technically there thanks to Cerberus, who were the same organization that he and I had fought so hard to destroy. So yes, I understand his anger, but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt". Kate nodded. "I know, I was so mad after that meeting, but I got over it. Took a few drinks, of course" she grinned. Andrea chimed in, "I met him on Horizon too, but he didn't come with me either, not that I blame him. We'd never been close that way, and I was essentially working with a rogue terrorist organization" and Alan finished the set with "same here."

"So Kaidan again acted consistently for each of us" she thought out loud. Andrea couldn't resist adding with a smirk, "aw, did you two not get a chance for a lover's reunion?" Kate snapped back "no we fucking didn't, ok? I loved him and he moved on while I was technically _dead_, does that make you happy?" Andrea backed down, as she held up her hands, "I'm sorry, I guess that had to hurt." "Too damn right it did."

Kate had spent the first few months after waking up seeking out Kaidan, but couldn't get any leads on him, so when she'd finally found out where he was, it was a huge relief. But two years for him had passed, and he'd thought she was dead. So much pain and hurt in his eyes as they'd met, that wound would take more than a single meeting to heal. And how could he come with her when he was still with the Alliance - there was no way they would have let that happen, nor would the Illusive Man have approved (though screw him, he was an asshole). She had to pick up the pieces after that and find her own way. She'd thrown herself into her work, get those Collectors on the run, push hard, keep finding people who could help with the impossible odds of a suicide mission.

"So, after Horizon, I found some more people - Illusive Man did have some good intel, I'll give him that much. I ended up adding the Asari Justicar, Samara, a Drell assassin called Thane Krios, and I finally got Tali to join me. Then I also found a friendly Geth and added him to the team, calling him Legion." Emony piped in, "Yes, same here" Alan nodded, as Andrea jumped in again, "wait, you activated the Geth?" Kate looked at her, incredulous "what, you didn't? It saved your life and you turned it off?" Andrea frowned in frustration, "yes I left it turned off, and I gave it to Cerberus - I couldn't risk a rogue Geth on my ship on top of my other troubles!" Kate gave that a think.

Legion had turned into a real asset on the team, loyal and trustworthy, it had fought alongside her on several missions, and had been in the ventilation shafts on the Collector ship as they'd fought their way inside the vessel. And she'd learned so much about the Geth from it too, information that had proved to offer her real insight into the Geth and their development and evolution since the Quarians left their homeworld. Even Tali had grown to appreciate Legion's abilities and they had formed a non-hostile truce. Which, for Tali, was as close to amicable with a Geth as it was likely to get.

Without Legion - admittedly, she'd thought about it before turning it on, it could have been a trap, infiltration playing on her humanity. Kate had a thought and looked over at Andrea "ok, so when we mounted the assault on the Collectors we had to infiltrate the ship - there was a ventilation shaft that I had Legion work his way through to remove the locks on the doors to the central chamber. So, if you didn't have Legion on your team, who did you use? Assuming you even had to do that..." Andrea shook her head with a smile, "I sent in Kasumi, I didn't need a Geth, I had a thief on the team!" Emony jumped in, "I used Legion too - what about you Alan?" Alan grinned, "The best specialist with electronics that I know is Tali, and risky though it was, she was the best choice for me."

Kate thought this over and grinned - this was starting to get amusing, "so, what, we all had to choose someone to unlock that door, we choose different people and yet we all still made it ok? You did all make it through ok, right? Didn't lose anyone?" and that brought the room to a chorus of "We all made it ok". Kate chuckled, "ok, so are we done with this charade? I mean, she's right - Andrea's right - this is a joke! We've all made different decisions, we all have different personal histories, and yet we're standing here? We made it through the Collector base having made different choices without losing a team member?" but as she said that final through Kate paused. Another possibility opened itself to her - one that she didn't like, but that also made sense. There was no cover, no time to line up this shot, this was from the hip, instinct through and through, shoot and hope you make the target.

"What if the only reason we met is that we made equally correct decisions, or decisions with enough of a similar outcome, that we four met here. What if others made wrong choices, or choices that deviated too far? I mean, I was only just in time to rescue Kelly and Chakwas and the rest of the crew - an hour later and they would have been dead... if I'd taken even a slight detour..." She looked at each of them and her tone changed, "what if, out of the thousands of possibilities, our four realities are all that are left? What if we're the only ones left who stand a chance of defeating the Reapers? And if so, how can we make sure we don't slip up and lose our chance of winning this impending war?" Andrea gave a snort, "that's assuming we're the ones that stand a chance of winning, and haven't already lost the battle." Yeah, that gave Kate some food for thought. Clip empty.

* * *

**Emony**

Emony felt unsettled, "so you're saying there could be more of us out there?" Kate nodded, "of course yes, I mean, just one decision different and you would have a fork. There are hundreds of possible mini forks for each of us each day, the theory means there should be infinite parallel realities". Emony sighed, "and here I am having a hard enough time with just the four of us. So how do we know if we're on the right path, or which decisions are the right ones? I mean, it would be so much easier if we could discuss a situation before going into it, then evaluating the outcome..."

But as she spoke, she felt something changed. Emony looked over her shoulder. The seemingly endless space around her felt a little less endless. There were no walls, no edges, but it felt smaller. She looked over at the others, and they too had started looking over their shoulders, they shared her perception. "Are we out of time? I haven't finished with the questions yet, we must have more time!" she looked over at the others, they shared her anxiety. The hum from the cavern seemed to return, she looked at her hand, it was glowing green, like the ripples of energy on the surface of the sphere - too soon. As she looked up there was a flash of light and she stepped back, shielding her eyes.

When she was able to look, she saw she was back in the cavern. The sphere that had floated so serenely in front of her was gone, and a loud clang sounded out in the cavern as something fell to the floor. The sphere had shrunk to a mere fraction of its original size, no larger than her helmet. And despite having rapidly fallen to the ground, it was now hovering an inch above the floor. The ripples that had covered the surface were still there, but subdued. Emony looked around her, Garrus and Tali were still there. She blinked and took a deep breath - it had finished so abruptly, no warning, and so much left unsaid. "How long was I out?" she asked. "Out? you never left!" replied a confused Garrus.

Twenty minutes of her life had passed in the blink of an eye, a glimpse of three alternate realities - had she dreamed it all, or were they real? As she stepped forward to see the tiny sphere, she gazed into it. For a moment, Emony almost felt like she could see the faces of her alternate selves. If it had been a dream, it had felt pretty damn real. She brushed her fingers across the surface, the sphere seemed to sing as she touched it, but nothing else happened.

They picked up the sphere and carried it back to the Normandy. Tali had worked with Daniels and Donnelly to figure out whether it could pose a risk, and EDI had done all the analysis she possibly could do, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There had been a massive pulse of information when she had interfaced with the sphere, and the Project Firewalker scientists had written to her excited about the vast quantity of data that it must have contained. Only a fraction was captured, but there was some mention about advances in energy transfer and biotics. Emony wasn't paying much attention. They didn't know what had happened in there - in fact, she hadn't told anyone, not even Garrus or Tali, about her experience.

The whole experience had shaken her, and Chakwas had given her a good thorough check up when she'd returned to the Normandy. Something about increased alpha waves, neural activity, biotic amp seemingly fine. Emony thought about talking to her - but what would she say without sounding crazy? "Hey, I just met myself three times over, oh and one of me was a guy" The last thing she needed right now was to be taken off duty for a psych eval. So, she'd smiled, nodded and said she needed rest.

A couple of days later, Emony was in her cabin reading a couple of reports. After her experience with the orb she'd focussed on tidying up some loose ends. She'd ordered Joker to head back towards Illium - just before starting the assault on the Collector base she'd received some intel - one was about the Firewalker team, the other was a seemingly incomplete piece about the Shadow Broker. EDI had spent some time doing some checks on the data, and it had seemed good, so Illium was their next scheduled stop. Maybe it could help Liara with her little vendetta.

As she pulled the last of the reports together, there was a chime at the door. Garrus and Tali walked in, and Emony could see they were carrying a small box. "What's this?" she asked, as she took the box from Garrus - it felt heavy. He almost smiled as she took it, "Well, since you didn't manage to get us killed going through the Omega 4 relay, and since it didn't seem to do you any harm, we thought you might like a little memento of one of your recent missions" Emony chuckled, and with the straightest of faces replied "you got me the head of the Illusive Man? Garrus Vakarian, is this a proposal?" and that got a chuckle from them both, "er, not quite, though I think you'll like it" replied Garrus.

Emony opened the box, and her mouth fell open. "Doesn't someone need this? I mean, someone will want to study it?" Tali folded her arms, "We've put it through every test imaginable in the past few days, you remember how I used to examine Prothean artifacts you recovered? Well, we've upgraded all that equipment since then. There aren't many other tests that could be done to this, and we're all agreed that this is inert." Emony had read the reports - well, nearly read them. Readings, more readings, no readings, no changes, no response. Scientific analysis of a seemingly inert object had become dry reading. Not that it mattered right now, she was gazing at it, floating in the box.

Emony walked over to the coffee table in her quarters, and gently lifted the sphere out, placing it on the table. It didn't move, it just hovered there. She tried pushing it gently with her hand, but it stayed precisely where it was - which seemed to be the exact center of the table. "I think it likes you!" replied Tali. Emony smiled - the sphere looked a little like a combat drone, and Tali's anthropomorphic relationship with her drone had lead to a fair amount of teasing ship-wide. Not that it mattered - that little drone was astonishingly useful.

As Garrus and Tali left, EDI had informed her that they would be at Illium in about four hours. Emony sat on the sofa, folded her arms, and looked at the sphere. Four hours - then, who knows, maybe Liara would get her hacking terminals again. Or maybe not - the intel was vague, but specific enough that it was possible that it could be exactly what Liara wanted. Emony stared at the sphere. She wondered what the others were doing at that moment. She wondered if they were going to Illium too. Illium felt so far away, and so inconsequential. Most things did - she'd had a lot of time to think since the Collector base assault. And since the sphere, her brain had been working overtime.

She shook her head, thinking is all very well, but there are real people who need help out there. Imagination could be a powerful ally, and a crazy distraction. Loneliness could lead you into an interesting state of imagination, where the what ifs and the maybes became possible realities. And parallel realities made those what ifs more plausible.

Emony looked at the pad once more - four hours, intel all in place, reports all done, crew all busy doing their jobs. She closed her eyes, put the pad to one side, and listened. The sphere was humming - it was really faint, but as she focussed her mind on it the sound grew. She muted the music, and the hum was still there - the same intensity, same volume - muting the music just removed a different channel. It was like it was more in her head than in the room. And the more she listened, the more she heard it. As she leaned forward, she saw the ripples on the surface, and the faintest tinge of green energy aura around it.

Shepard took a deep breath, reached out, and touched the sphere.


End file.
